Scotland`s War Memorials

Edinburgh

I have a large collection of War Memorial images, both in the UK and abroad and this section is due to be revamped with memorials listed in their respective regional locations etc* This page covers War Memorials in the City of Edinburgh itself while another section covers memorials in the Port of Leith. Other locations in the Lothians also have a dedicated section. (LINKS*).

Intro etc *

Edinburgh Castle

Scotland`s National War Memorial

St Giles` Cathedral

The inscription on the above memorial reads: `To the memory of two Officers, twenty-one Serjeants, twenty-seven Corporals, nine Drummers, four hundred and thirty-nine Privates, forty seven women and one hundred and twenty-four children, of the Seventy Eighth Highland Regiment, in all amounting to Six hundred and sixty-nine, who died on the banks of the River Indus in Sinde, between the 6th day of September 1844, and the 4th day of March 1845.` ​Sinde, now known as Sindh, is one of the four provinces of modern-day Pakistan.

This tribute to Brigadier General Francis Aylmer Maxwell V.C., C.S.I., D.S.O. who was killed in action at Ypres on 21 Sept 1917 was made by the Officers, N.C.O.s and Men of the 27th Inf Brigade, 9th (Scottish) Division.

Above right is a memorial plaque to All Ranks of the 94th (City of Edinburgh) H..A.A. Regiment Royal Artillery who gave their lives in WW2. Another three WW1 memorials are shown below: On the left is a tribute honouring the Scottish Nurses who gave their lives in the Great War 1914-1919. In the centre is a tribute to Elsie Maud Inglis (Born. 1864), Surgeon, Philanthropist and founder in 1914 of the Scottish Women`s Hospitals for Service with the Allies in France, Serbia and Russia. She died on active service in 1917. On the right is a plaque to the members of the Ninth Battalion (Highlanders) The Royal Scots, who gave their lives in the Great War 1914-1918.

Princes Street

St Cuthbert`s Church

​The Parish Church of St Cuthbert sits off Lothian Road at the west end of Princes Street Gardens under the shadow of Edinburgh Castle. The magnificent building and surrounding graveyard are steeped in history and well worth a visit. It is thought that the Northumbrian Saint, St Cuthbert built the first church here, a primitive structure of mud and wattle, in the 7th century, however, the first written record of its existence is a reference on a Royal Charter dating from 1127. Over the centuries at least seven church buildings have stood on the site, used in turn by several faiths. For the last 300 years the congregation has been Church of Scotland.

​​The present structure, which dates from 1894, has been built in an Italian Renaissance style. The striking interior has numerous interesting features including a / this* portrayal of Leonardo da Vinci`s `Last Supper` above the apse. The marble frieze, completed in 1906, was the work of Bridgemans of Lichfield.

​Magnificent stained glass windows depict biblical scenes and events from the life of St Cuthbert who died on Inner Farne of the Farne Islands in March 687 AD and was buried at Lindisfarne, although his remains were later transferred to Durham Cathedral.

​Created by Tiffany of New York in 1903, the stained glass window, above right, depicts David, sling in hand, about to do battle with Goliath. It is one of only several Tiffany windows in the United Kingdom.

​After the Great War the church chose to create a memorial chapel to honour those who died. The small War Memorial Chapel was built in 1921in what was the vestibule of the old church and therefore sits below ground level. On the East wall, just beside the steps, is a small recess which holds the Roll of Honour. At the North end of the chapel is the chancel with a gold mosaic apse and a stained glass window of the crucifixion. There is also a small communion table with a St Cuthbert’s Cross (above centre) on the front panel. The symbols on either side of the cross above represent Peace and War.

​The crucifixion window and another War Memorial Chapel window featuring St Cuthbert, are the work of Dr (Robert) Douglas Strachan (1875-1950) arguably the finest of Scotland`s stained glass artists. The St Cuthbert window is a cross with three scenes. One shows Cuthbert as a boy, working as a shepherd in the Lammermuir Hills. On the right there is a scene of him as a hermit on the Farne Islands off the Northumberland coast. The long middle section shows him in the robes of Bishop of Lindisfarne.

​The substantial kirkyard has many interesting monuments and is the last resting place of several famous characters including John Napier, the inventor of logarithms and the Manchester-born writer Thomas De Quincey (1785-1859) best known for Confessions of an English Opium-Eater. Another noteworthy grave is that of James Findlay (1822-1862) Royal Artillery, Edinburgh Castle`s first `One O`Clock Gunner`.

The Royal Scots Greys Monument

This equestrian bronze standing in a prominent position halfway along Princes Street is one of the City`s best known monuments. It depicts a Royal Scots Dragoon Guard (Carabinier and Greys) in uniform with bearskin hat, sword and rifle.

The sculptor is William Birnie Rhind (1853 - 1933) and the memorial was unveiled by the Earl of Rosebery on the 16th November 1906. The eagle insignia on the plaque was adopted by the regiment, after Ensign Ewart captured it from the French at the battle of Waterloo in 1815.

Plaques to commemorate the regimental Fallen in two World Wars, 1914 -18 and 1939 - 45 were added later.

The Call

`The Call 1914-1918`, a war memorial in Edinburgh`s Princes Street Gardens, was gifted by Scottish-Americans to honour Scots who had served in the First World War. It was erected in 1927.

Royal Scots Memorial, Princes Gardens

Calton Hill

This is the Nelson Monument, a tower constructed and prominently sited on the city`s Calton Hill in honour of Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson. The monument was built between 1807 and 1815 to commemorate Nelson's victory over the French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, and his own death at the same battle. In 1853 a time ball was added, as a time signal to shipping in Leith harbour. The monument was restored in 2009.

The monument was constructed on Calton Hill`s summit (171 metres (561 ft) above sea-level), replacing an earlier mast used to send signals to vessels in the Forth. Every 21 October, on what has been designated Trafalgar Day, the Royal Navy's White Ensign and signal flags ​spelling out Nelson's famous message "England expects that every man will do his duty" are flown from the flagpole.

​The monument was funded by public subscription but the initial pagoda-like design by Alexander Nasmyth was was deemed too expensive. The architect Robert Burn proposed a less elaborate and more appropriate design resembling an upturned telescope.

Building began in 1807 and was on schedule for completion the following year when funds ran out. Work slowed to a halt and the project was still far from finished when Burn died in 1815.

Another architect, Thomas Bonnar constructed the pentagonal castellated building, which forms the base to the tower, between 1814 and 1816. The plan was that sailors would stay in the ground floor rooms and be responsible for operating the signal flags, however, as early as 1820 this part of the building was being used as a tea room!

The monument is 32 metres (105 ft) high, with 143 steps leading to a public viewing gallery. The castellated design reflects the castellated prison buildings which stood on the south side of Calton Hill in the early 1800s.

​A plaque above the entrance to the monument carries the following dedication: “To the memory of Vice-Admiral Horatio Lord Viscount Nelson, and of the great victory of Trafalgar, too dearly purchased with his blood, the grateful citizens of Edinburgh have erected this monument: not to express their unavailing sorrow for his death; nor yet to celebrate this matchless glories of his life; but, by his noble example, to teach their sons to emulate what they admire, and, like him, when duty requires it, to die for their country. AD MDCCCV.2"

Above the plaque is a stone carving of the San Josef, a ship captured by Nelson at the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1797. The time ball on top of the tower was raised and lowered to mark the time of day. It was installed in 1853 to assist ships in Edinburgh's port of Leith, and other vessels at the anchorage in the Firth of Forth, and enabled the skippers to set their chronometers. The time ball was the idea of Charles Piazzi Smyth, the Astronomer Royal for Scotland, and was originally triggered by a clock in the adjacent City Observatory, to which it was connected by an underground wire. The mechanism was the work of Maudslay, Sons & Field of Lambeth, who had previously constructed the time ball mechanism for Greenwich Observatory.

A 21-Gun Salute to mark HM Queen`s Birthday. Normally only one of these artillery pieces is fired daily at 1 o`clock.

The ball, constructed of wood and covered in zinc is raised just before 1 pm, and at precisely 1 pm, is dropped from atop the mast. Later, in 1861, the One O'Clock Gun was established at Edinburgh Castle to provide an audible signal when fog obscured the time ball. The time ball was operated for over 150 years until 2007 when it was damaged by a storm. In 2009, as part of a major restoration project, the time ball was removed and the mechanism repaired. It was brought back into service on 24 September 2009 and is now operated manually, based on the firing of the One O'Clock Gun.

Edinburgh Castle from Calton Hill.

Other City Locations

The Second Boer War, also known as the South African War (1899-1902) was fought between the British Empire and Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers in the Boer republics of Transvaal and the Orange Free State. The British were eventually victorious, both republics were annexed and later incorporated into the Union of South Africa, a British dominion.

The First Boer War (1880-1881) was a shorter-lived and less well-known affair. It began in the Transvaal when when Boers revolted against British control, declaring an independent state. The British at that time were unwilling to engage in a distant, costly and potentially protracted war and a truce was declared. The British agreed to Boer self-government, under their watchful eye, but in the years that followed the vast mineral wealth of the region soon became apparent.

The lure of gold and diamonds changed the British viewpoint when tensions again began to mount during the build up to the second conflict. Large numbers of troops arrived in South Africa to teach the Boers a lesson but they proved to be resourceful and cunning fighters, initially outwitting and outfighting the British on many occasions.

Scotland`s capital city has two major war memorials relating to the second Boer War, both by the acclaimed Edinburgh born sculptor William Birnie Rhind RSA (1853-1933). The first, to the Kings Own Scottish Borderers, is on the east side of North Bridge. The regiment was raised in Edinburgh in 1689 and Edinburgh Castle backed by a saltire (Scottish flag) adorns its badge. This memorial also commemorates the officers and men of the regiment who fell in earlier campaigns, namely Afghanistan (1878-1880), Egypt (1888-1889), Chin Lushai (1889-1890), Chitral (1895), Tirah (1897-1898).

This imposing figure of a Black Watch soldier stands guard on The Mound and is passed by tens of thousands of tourists each year as they make their way up to the castle and the Royal Mile. The memorial commemorates the men of the world famous Am Freiceadan Dubh who fell during the second South African campaign.

The monument, which is dated 1908, has a bronze panel on the base showing the troops in action, dressed in their kilts and pith helmets. At Magersfontein in 1899 the Black Watch were amongst the men of the Highland Brigade who were caught in open ground by a surprise Boer attack; their casualties in this ambush alone numbered over 300.

Left* ​This memorial to the men of the Royal Scots who died during the Second Boer War stands just inside the entrance of Saint Giles` Cathedral on the Royal Mile.(to edit)*

Additional images and information can be found on my blog, Clydeside Images.com. Further War Memorial and Military History content, not exclusively relating to Scotland, may also feature in the galleries of individual countries on this site. Also, check out my Stock Photography Archive for even more shots.